Nip/Tuck
Service Bay ---- :The bay curves in a huge arc, following the approximate line of a portion of the asteroid's perimeter. On the outboard side a series of heavy portals are evenly ranked, docking ports, loading ports and service connections. Their telltales no longer glow green and red, dim and gray in the darkness of space, as lifeless as the vacuum beyond. :Huge, rusted ribbed girders bordering on collapse radius out from the inboard wall, dividing the space in a repetative pattern. The floor is diamond gridded plate, busted and unsteady, matched by equally ruined wall panels threatening to cave at the slightest touch. The surfaces reflect the sound, causing even the slightest noise to resuodly echo over and over. The bay is dim, shadowed, with but a handful of shielded light fixtures casting an ominous blood-red illumination through the space. ---- Outside the Fox, Aadzrian is working out with an almost fiendish vengeance- big hands white-knuckled around a bar on the ship's fuselage, he's doing repeated pull-ups. With his shirt off, it's obvious a long cut on his midsection is barely holding shut for the workout, while a silver fox's head with blue knotwork winks from his back. A green-streaked, black felinoid head peers first around the edge of the Raider's open hatch before the rest of the Ariel unit slinks through. As it pads down the ramp, Kit follows, data tablet dangling from a hand as she heads toward the nose of the ship. Both pairs of eyes - one set dark, the other lit red from within - stray toward the avidly working Timonae as they round the shadow of the Raider. "Hallo," Aadzrian grunts, not addressing the human- instead, his green-on-green eyes focus on the metal feline slinking that way. "-You- no mind people who speak Timonese, do you?" He almost sounds playful rather than irritated, though shortness of breath robs him of much intonation. Kit neither takes umbrage at the lack of direct address or at the potential snub, seemingly quite content to pass conversation by altogether except that she is forced to grudgingly admit, "Beta does not speak. At least, not that I have heard." A lazy blink of crimson eyes, and the Ariel unit casually saunters past to claim a space directly underneath the Raider's nose, settling down upon its haunches. "Aw..." Aadzrian looks slightly put-out by that, his expression- as his gaze tracks the mechanical beast- both fascinated and a bit uneasy. "Wat is t'ey?" He pauses with arms fully extended, feet dangling a few feet above the ground, a wince contorting his youthful face. Kit comes to a stop next to Beta, looking up at the smooth metal curving overhead and murmuring a low, "Commence test sequence; send results to the tablet I have in hand, sorted by number of successful relays, high to low," before glancing distractedly toward the Timonae. "They are erstwhile Phyrrian Taskers. An amalgamation of the Overmind's experiments with the Ariel Two system installed aboard the IND Jackal. If you overstrain yourself, you will make yourself even more useless." Aadzrian smirks faintly at that, dropping down to his feet with catlike grace... although in that area, he's likely excelled by some of his present company. "Even more useless? Big words to a man who could breaked you in half." Hossomi disembarks from the IND Laughing Fox. "It was an observation, not a challenge," Kit notes with vague irritation while Beta wholly ignores the ongoing tete-a-tete, wrapping its tail around its paws and tilting its head back at the order - and then falling still, as only a non-biological being can accomplish; a statue. "And that is, of course, on the presumption that you are able to lay hands on me in the first place - or keep them on me, even if you did." "Even more use-less suggest a certain amount of use-less in firs' place," Aadzrian remarks cheerfully, wiping his hands off on his pants. A cut's visible slashed across his abdomen in front and silver Fox's head tattoo in a cradle of blue knotwork centered on his back. "I no intending to hurt you, trus' me. T'ough t'at do sound like a challenge!" Tiana disembarks from the IND Laughing Fox. Kit and the Beta unit are currently standing beneath the shadow of the Raider's nose. The shirtless Aadzrian has recently been working out, from the sweat on him; standing near the Fox. Hossomi wanders out, wiping at the sweat of his brow irritably. The tete-a-tete is given an acknowledging look. Kit simply arches a narrow black brow, patently indifferent to whether he chooses to see the words as challenge or not. "Reassuring, though I would say you hardly have cause yet to test that conviction." "Words, no matter how bitshy, no make me hurt people. Is sort of rule I keep my-self to," Aadzrian explains lightly to Kit. "So un-less you decide to hurt some-body? You are per-fect safe around me." He bends down with a soft grunt, grabbing his shirt and wiping his sweaty face down. Tiana appears at the Fox's airlock as it cycles open, the youth unsurprizingly sleepy and just waking up. She pauses at the top of the ramp, not noticing anyone in favour of a big yawn. Hossomi is just watching the affair idly, no hurry to interrupt it. "Admirable," Kit notes, her gaze sliding away to focus upon the movements in her peripheral vision. Upon recognizing Hossomi, her shoulders seem to slump a little in a resigned sigh, but she otherwise manages a grudging nod of acknowledgment toward the male while she takes in Tiana's appearance on the ramp as well. Beta maintains its statue-stillness throughout, obviously intent on something else entirely. "Wel, when I live up to it," Aadzrian confesses. He looks over to Hossomi as Kit does as well, studying the other Timonae with visible curiosity before he offhandedly asks of Kit, "Wat is your... Beta doing?" Tiana seems overlooked, the shirtless Timonae's back to the hatch. Starting to wander down the ramp now, Tia's free hand raises up to rub briefly at her eyes. She mumbles something to herself, pausing once she reaches the bottom. Hossomi quirks an eyebrow at Kit's gruff, baresbone nod. He doesn't return it, mostly because he turns back to Tiana. "How're you feeling?" Kit snorts softly at the qualifier, her gaze swinging back to Aadzrian; eyes narrowed consideringly for a moment before she shrugs and explains, "I am testing their synchronization rates through various levels of routing, the security of their communications, and the amount of data they have to exchange to maintain a single coherent entity amongst several discrete units. I had not originally designed the Ariel system for this type of....multiprocessing." Aadzrian's eyes cross for a moment, though it's hard to tell with that Timonae gaze. Finally, after a moment he ventures, "T'ey are many when t'e yare suppose to be one and you want to see how wel t'ey are doing wit' t'at?" He sounds more than slightly unsure of his diagnosis. Tiana blinks for a sleepy moment while she dredges the memory of Hossomi up from hazy depth, "Real tired still." She mumbles, shuffling steps carrying her towards the newest in her collection of Timonae friends and acquaintances, "Don' think ah ever slept s'much in one day in m'life." Kit tilts her head with an assessive air, and then she graces Aadzrian with a vulpine grin; pleasantly surprised by his acumen. "Close enough. Except, obviously, they are doing very well with it, as you say. I am seeing how well they do when their network is placed under stress, and from the results, hopefully gain some insight as to what exactly the Overmind changed to produce this effect." "I am kind of un-tech-no-loggy," Aadzrian explains, his own toothy grin perhaps more sheepish than anything else. "But t'at makes sense, I t'ink. Do you like t'em t'is way or do you want to turn t'em back? Would seem kind of un-fair, huh? Sinse, wel, t'ey all alive now..." Hossomi has left RP mode. Tiana boards the IND Laughing Fox. "Alive," Kit echoes blandly, expression going flat before shaking her head - not exactly in denial, but evidently not so pleased with the assessment either. "Certainly, it would be the least problematic route to simply destroy them." Her free hand rises, perhaps unconsciously, to settle atop Beta's still head with an odd mixture of comforting and possessiveness. "However, I have always been intrigued by how a Phyrrian is able to claim true sentience through programming. Ariel Two is the quintessential bridge between our own more clumsy understanding of AI structures and the much more elegant Phyrrian model. Above all, however, my top priority is to comb every line of code the Overmind added to ensure there are no hidden surprises for the future." "T'at make sense," Aadzrian affirms, his frown thoughtful as he strokes his beard. "But we are at pease now, righ'? Is pro-babble t'ey are safe. And t'ey no has weapon system, do t'ey?" He shrugs and drops to the floor, settling into push-ups. "...Only Phyrrian I ever meeted sure had no personality. Jus desire to kil me." "They were sent to raze Ungstir," Kit contradicts with a thin, mirthless smile. "It was during the battles that they redisccovered the original Ariel directives and broke from the Overmind. They were waiting for us here, on Avalon, when we came looking for the Jackal." A tilt of her head, and she asks, "Did you fight it off?" "No. It catshed me by sur-prise and melted the majority of my ches' wit' plasma," Aadzrian explains calmly. Strange, since his bare chest seems completely unscarred, only that recent cut and a faint circular dark patch in the middle marring its even brown shade. "I was lucky to sur-vive." Hossomi enters RP mode. Kit does not bother eyeing his torso once more to confirm her previous observations. Instead, she muses with a glance down at her tablet to check upon the tests' status, "A remarkable recovery, then. How did you manage such a feat?" Hossomi returns! He has a bag tossed over his shoulder, covered with buttons, and a bright red star painted onto the black surface. He whistles idly as he walks away from the Raider, smoking a cigarette that has multihued smoke curling up and away from it's pleasant violet cherry at the end. "I am stubborn and do not die," Aadzrian explains lightly. "Also, t'ere were doctor- genetic doctor- who came to see me. He use me as, how you say, um, test for new genetic remedy. It worked, it worked very well. It kind of hurt, being skinned, but it were wort' it in end!" He pauses in his pushups to look down at himself, then rolls over and begins careful sit-ups. "Genetic doctor...?" Kit echoes with a perplexed wrinkle of her brow. "The doctor would not happen to be a certain notorious Sivadian, would he?" Her gaze strays distractedly toward Hossomi's reappearance, frown of bemusement deepening at the other Timonae's actions but happy to leave him be for the moment. "Nah, was Demarian," Aadzrian disagrees, voice a bit strained from the exercises. "No very notory-us, but very good at wat he didded." He glances over to Hossomi as well, raising his volume to yell, "Hi! Do I know you?" Hossomi exhales a fruity cloud at Kit's stare, unperturbed and uncaring. He moves to join them though. "You know, it's really rather rude to be doing that meathead when talking to someone. But, no. Hossomi, hello. Mind stopping with the exercising? You're making ME tired." "Demarian?" Kit murmurs in surprise, before she turns a raised brow upon the form that Hossomi's greeting takes. Eschewing direct commentary, though, she leans subtly away from the fruit-scented miasma when he walks over. "Ergh." Aadzrian grimaces at the smoke, but without too much real irritation. "Oh, no, I need to keeped exer-cise," he explains. "I been slacking off be-cause of injure, no can afford t'at. I am Aadzrian, Hossomi! It is nise to meeted you." Back to the sit-ups, and he adds for Kit, "Yes, Snow-streak. It were t'is goop t'at regrowed wat-ever you putted it on." Hossomi nods slowly, "Alright, enjoy then." He turns his head, scratching at his brow, before moving out and ahead. Hossomi has disconnected. "Snowstreak," Kit echoes contemplatively, before Hossomi's abrupt departure has her sighing with a grimace, absently waving an arm through the remnants of the cigarette's scent still lingering in the air. "Intriguing, a Demarian doctor that also has some expertise in other races' biologies. Though I suppose genetics are the least common denominator for most known species." "A lot of doctors I know choose to learned mush about Shohobians," Aadzrian says lightly, grin curling his lips. "I on my own keeped many of t'em in busy-ness." Those sit-ups continue, sweat plastering his haphazard hair to his forehead. "So, um, I am no sure we even been intro-ducing proper, righ? I am Aadzrian Axbovi. Friend of Mika, for-ever crew for Ace." Another check of the tablet, and apparently satisfied by the progress made, Kit answers without bothering to look up from her analysis, "Kittianna Trevelyan. 'Bitch' on occasion, apparently." Added with a perfect delivery, along with the command, "Ariel Two, proceed with optional levels once current cycle is complete." "Eeeh, you do no seem too bad, am sorry," Aadzrian chuckles, his open face visibly abashed. "I know a very lot of racist humans, yes? A very lot. But my sister were way out of line las' nigh'. Today I make Jazz t'row out all her pot plants." At that, a scowl touches his lips. "Sinse he put hallucino-gen in t'em." "I am quite satisfied with the appellation of 'bitch'," Kit assures dryly, "particularly when I am forced into the presence of fools and idiots. I assure you, any low opinions I hold of one race are most likely matched by similar ones for others. There is a reason why I am not formally attached to any crew or organization." There is a thin smile at his revelation. "You are not in any way helping the revisement of my previous opinion, you know." "Wel, righ' now I am pissed at bot' of t'em." Aadzrian shrugs gently, pausing a moment to catch his breath. "Way I figure is t'is. If you gonna, wat is word... geny-ralize one or two people to whole rase, not'ing I can do can stop you. Al I can do is hope you some-day meeted some-body who change your mind. Canno lived my life for te opiny-ons of ot'ers." He stretches his arms above his head, hissing a little as the gesture tugs at one side of his wound. Kit shrugs at the lecture, abruptly bored of the misassumption. "I rarely stereotype beyond individuals - it is dangerous when you generalize, or expect, too much. What I said at the time was a hyperbole to express the breadth of my exasperation with the situation, hardly a heart-felt endorsement of its literal meaning. How did you obtain that?" she nods toward the healing cut. Aadzrian grimaces a little as he listens to Kit, his brow furrowing with the difficulty of parsing so many complex words. He exhales in mild frustration afterward, but doesn't let it show in his voice as he replies, "Some-body try to dis-embowel me on Tomin Kora. No sure if were personal, or random, or be-cause of ties wit' Cabrerra." "Ah. A doubly worrisome event, then, when one does not even know the source of the attempt," Kit muses, eyes settling upon the still Beta unit. "Or sources, as the case may be, where Tomin Kora is concerned these days." "I sus-pecting is us being on shit list of Cabrerra enemies and no a personal enemy," Aadzrian confesses, "but I canno be entire sure. I killed te ass-assin too quickly, and te body were gone when I went back." Now at that he does sound irate, an inwardly focused irritation. The Timonae rolls to his feet, a thin trickle of magenta blood seeping from the left side of the wound where it's wider. "Er, wat is a hyper-bolly?" "Very inconvenient," Kit agrees with an amused quirk of her mouth before dictating with dictionary precision, "A noun denoting extravagant exaggeration." "So like if I were to say I am te baddest mot'er-fucker in al of te galaxy," Aadzrian half-states, half-asks with a deliberately deadpan intonation. He then tosses his hair with what is hopefully more self-mockery than vanity, flexes an arm, and examines the muscle while drawling, "T'at would... no be a hyper-bolly?" Kit snorts, loudly, but there seems to be a gram more amusement than exasperation in the roll of her eyes - just barely. "That would be hyperbole," she corrects/confirms, equally deadpan. "Particularly when you are about to stain the deck. I would be careful where you bleed, by the way; Mika has been in a cleaning frenzy lately, and is not afraid to enforce it with a permanent marker." "Eeeh?" Aadzrian looks down, his eyes widening as any posturing fades in irritation. "Maza's tits! I telled Jest to use stishes, no t'is damn fake skin shit." He grabs his shirt, staining the white cotton heedlessly as he mops up the blood and grumbles absently to himself in Timonese. "Um... Real men bleed?" "Depends on your definition of 'real'," Kit drawls blandly. "Stitches stretch and tear too, you know, when placed under stress." From her tone of voice, she fully lays the blame on his own head for the mess. "Glue has been known to work in a pinch." "I know, I know," Aadzrian sighs wistfully. "I jus hate going few days wit'out exer-cise." It seems the bleeding is fairly minimal, as when he takes the stained shirt away nothing more falls. "Hmmm, could stil do... push-ups? Yeah." Shirt tossed at his feet, he drops down and begins again with more persistence than wisdom. "So how do you know Mika?" Kit rolls her eyes. "Dogged persistence and spitting in the face of logic. Yes, I think that does describe 'real man' quite elegantly. Congratulations, I accede the point," she huffs before taking another glance at her tablet and then abruptly sinking down to sit directly upon the hangar's deck, leaning companionably into Beta's shoulder and side as she types upon the screen. "We had to work together on several jobs. What about you?" "How I know Mika? Wel, I were wit' Ace crew on Vollista on Silver Streak, while we al healing from crash of Faux, and 'Jay Reilly' show up out of no-where. Razor-back kept called her Captain Tach-yon, confuse crap out of me," Aadzrian recalls fondly with a breathless laugh, "but even-tual she come out as her-self. Because I Ace crew, we run into eash ot'er many times. She bail me out of jail once for kicking Vadim's ass!" That manages to draw Kit's attention enough for her to lift her eyes from the tablet, eyeing the Timonae a little more closely before her mouth crooks to one side. "Ah. Yes, I remember that day." Snorting, she returns her gaze to the screen in her lap. "Dare I say he probably deserved it?" "Ah, no entire," Aadzrian hedges, a little sheepishly. He shrugs it off, murmuring, "He and I have a long, comply-cated history. We best of friends. But... he were also onse my captain, on te Working Blue." A thumb points back at the Fox. "Previous name of t'at boat over t'ere. You pro-babble no care to hear, but long story short, he let me down... and when I get drunk I get angry." "Ah. There seems to be a lot of that going around...disappointments, betrayals, and intoxication of one sort or another," Kit mentions wryly with a pointed look between the only two intact ships occupying the cavernous space. "I would say you do not need to fear standing out." "Wel, t'ere is a reason I stay off alco-hol mos' of time." Aadzrian sprawls out flat on his back on the floor, folding his hands on his stomach. "...Even among mos' te stories, ours is... unusual. I do t'ink we would, even here, even any-where." Kit snorts half-heartedly, apparently not so interested in a game of one-upsmanship, though she does not wholly dissuade him from his reminiscing either; letting him carry on if he wishes while she multi-tasks with whatever she has running on her tablet. Aadzrian rolls over onto his front with a careful grunt, peeking up at Kit. "You wanna hear?" he inquires, evidently not so much in the mood to soliloquize without a willing audience. "Ot'er-wise, wil talked of somet'ing else." Kit's gaze flicks up at him with a perplexed look, as if to ask, 'It matters?' before making a waving motion with a hand. "Carry on," she says as she slouches a little more against Beta's flank. Aadzrian looks confused in the face of that perplexed expression, but after a moment shrugs lightly and sprawls out once more. "A year and a mont' ago," he begins lightly, "I were making my living as a fortune-teller on New Luna wit' my psychic powers. A bad living. T'en I met Razor-back Cliff-walker, who quick became my best friend... and intro-duce me to Vadim, running te Hard Eigh' for Ren Arnassis in his ab-sense and looked for crew. So, I sign up... but te Hard Eigh' no our ship. So Vadim go to Tomin Kora and make a deal wit' Darya, leader of Twin Moons... she wil let us use Working Blue, her ship. Only one catsh: We mus' kill a man." "Small world," Kit notes noncommittally at the list of names, fingers sliding across the tablet's surface as she reorganizes some programs. "A hard man to kill?" "Man is Rillitan Ryoleli. Razor-back explain t'is to me later, I was left out of te deal- evy-dent Rillitan cut up Darya for no reason. So I figure it is al righ' to kil him and he is bad man. But Tiana is Rillitan's lover, and a best friend of Razor-back's old love, Swift-foot. So Razor... he canno do it. He tells Tiana t'at we are going to do it." Aadzrian sits up, resting his chin on a knee and staring at the wall. "And t'en he takes off to Tomin Kora to turn him-self in to Darya, take blame for us no do te job. Pro-blem is, Razor is... unstable. Has been going more and more savage. And Darya wants to begin a glady-ator figh'ing ring. Razor... is her per-fect firs' warrior. And so she keeps him." There is a pause in the steady rate of fingerwork upon the electronic device, and Kit tilts her head with narrowed eyes and a contemplative 'hm' as she evidently connects events with some past memories. Soon enough, however, she is working once more; allowing him to continue uninterrupted. "Razor gets crazier and crazier as she make him figh' and kil humans for food," Aadzrian relates softly, not seeming to mind the lack of feedback now. "Vadim and I fly to Tomin Kora, and he... He is indecide. He has no idea wat to do to save Razor. We pick up a t'ird crew-man, te Zangali cal Rkagar. And waste time while Vadim do not'ing, and I can tel Razor is losing it. So. I go to te casino to talk to Darya... and Rkagar is t'ere, signing up to be guard for her. Wit' him, several ot'er guards, and ceiling turrets, she capture me too. And so I come to share room wit' Razor, t'ough not a cage. He were... anot'er person, a savage beast who hated me more t'an any-one and wanted very mush to kil and eat me." A twitch of an ear, and finally, Beta comes alive once more. Or, at least, minimally, as it turns its head to regard its mistress without moving a single other component except for its tail, which it lashes once before curling it around Kit instead of its own paws. "You may as well continue with the tertiary adjuncts as well, since we have the time," the Sivadian murmurs, stretching the task out. "Rkagar manage to tel me in pry-vate he really on our side, is turn-coat for when we break out, but as time go on I start... losing my grip. I have to watsh Razor feed on people- watsh t'em t'row a Demarian woman on compost heap to die when my medy-cal know could has saved her easy, watsh a Timonese woman beg me for her life, but t'ey hit me wit' tanglers when I try to help, be chained up like a dog in Darya casino to attract bidders..." Aadzrian clenches a fist, forced to stop for a moment to cool the anger rising in his voice. During that pause, he watches the way the tail curls, and the somewhat friendly gesture brings a bare smile to his lips. "...Sorry. By time of my firs' figh', every-body is my enemy. She puts me against Rkagar hand to hand and I al-most kil him while he down. It come to a head when my lover at te time visited. I t'ought for sure we were going to be reunited as slaves, and so I losed it and screamed insult at Darya to distract her. She took me back to te infirmary and... Drew on me al nigh' wit' acid. In te morning, every insh of me were a painting of scars." In spite of the litany of atrocities, it is the single-word apology which makes Kit's eyes dart up with a perplexed twitch of a brow before she seems to return her attention to the tablet once more, deliberate calm within the storm of images he paints. Aadzrian exhales, seemingly calmed again somehow. He murmurs, "Now, at begin of al t'is, Vadim and I had talked to Faux and telled t'em Razor were in trouble- sinse Swift-foot were on t'at ship. And t'ey came to see my figh' wit' Rkagar while getting ship re-fit, and when Ace saw my tor-ture and scars... she decide had to act. And while Vadim were off drinking, Faux coordy-nate a strike to break us out. Wit' Rkagar turning coat in middle of figh' and te able of te Faux crew, it work and we were freed. I kil Darya my-self. Vadim... mont's later he get help, break back into Working Blue, and steal it. But I tel him I am Ace's man now, and he never really taked t'at wel. Sayed it were like Ace stealed his crew. I have telled him I wil never serve under him again, and it upset him. And some-time it is hard for me for-give him doing not'ing when he maked te deal, and we suffered for it." Tiana disembarks from the IND Laughing Fox. At the tale's conclusion, Kit finishes a last item before looking up. Her gaze is cool and assessive as she contemplates him and then looks up at the Raider which had been handed to the aforementioned Vadim. "It is interesting, to now know the story from that perspective. I had only experience with the fall-out from Darya's assassination. I do not know if Mika already knew the details, but I think she will leave soon, regardless. The tests today will also serve as a good exercise for when I remove Ariel Three from the Raider's systems." Kit is now seated directly upon the deck, slouched against Beta's side - the Ariel unit now once again motionless, though it appears to have moved at one point, its head tilted at a different angle now while its long tail is tucked around its mistress instead of its paws. Aadzrian himself, after another feverish bout of exercising, has sprawled himself out on the deck also. There are drying streaks of blood on his side and shirt. Aadzrian watches Kit with faint curiosity, nodding after a moment. "Yes. Darya were ally wit' Marcu-culli and he bring Junk-yard in to shoot us down. And te Faux were destroy. Al be-cause I got my-self captured and Ace feel she had to go in to save me." His smile is wistful, a bit befuddled. "Te connections be-tween everyt'ing are mind-boggling. And... you t'ink Mika is done wit' Raider for good?" Tiana returns, much in a mirror of her appearance earlier. Evidently she'd gone to have a nap, and now was going through the motions of waking up again. Almost zombie like, she shuffles down the ramp of the Fox, and heads for the pair lounging on the deck. A twitch of a lip, and Kit's half-lidded gaze returns to Aadzrian. "Quite impressive work, Mr. Axbovi. All that, from a single action. And yet, Ace and crew are still walking about, and you are without your scars. Doubly impressive. As for Mika, I would hesitate to say anything is certain around someone who is chaos personified." An exasperated huff, and she grumbles, "Even if she has made up her mind, if I happen to say so in her hearing when she is in a mood, she would start marching in the opposite direction just to be contrary, no matter if she loses life or limb for doing so." Aadzrian sits up with a grunt, reaching into his pocket. He slides his wallet out, which looks absolutely stuffed. As he opens it, the key to its size is revealed- not money, but a remarkable amount of pictures. Flip, flip, flip, and the Timonae holds one up to Kit- himself, hair a few inches shorter, body less well muscled, naked above the waist... with curling, swirling, spiralled pink scars over every inch below the neck, disappearing even down into his pants. "I t'ank Snow-streak for t'is. T'ey cut off my skin and grew me a new one." He closes the wallet with a snap, perhaps not wanting to dwell on the image, and returns it to his jeans. "We Foxes are hard to kil to te las', and... Wel, I t'ink he likely to get anot'er chanse. She liked him enough to give him ship, after al." Tia's not quite yet noticed, as the Timonae is fairly caught up watching Kit. Tirax enters RP mode. Kit's brows are already fairly high when she glimpses what stuffs the wallet, but she withholds comments in a generous show of patience as he searches...and when the picture is finally thrust into her field of vision, she blinks. Blinks again, as the corners of her eyes tighten, and something flickers within her gaze...before a slow, feline smile curls her mouth. By the time Aadzrian finishes, her expression is one of almost glee-touched anticipation, even her body language gone subtly feral. "Oh, you showed me yours," she purrs with a coaxing intimacy at complete odds with her usual cool neutrality. "Does this mean I'll have to show you mine?" Blurry vision is ever the bane of a sleepy Tia, and so it comes to pass that she misjudges the distance until she reaches Kit and Aadzrian, putting it further away than it actually was. Unfortunatly, this means she runs into Aadzrian and promptly trips, a fall that's sure to prove no good for either of them. Aadzrian is already rising to his feet at Kit's comment, a certain surprised interest in his expression, his gaze focused on the woman with undeniable curiosity as well. Just as he opens his mouth to reply... he's got a Tia blundering into him. A little off-balance because of the motion, he is nonetheless well over a hundred pounds the heavier, and all he has to do is firmly plant himself right where he is- it's probably like running into a warm and only slightly squishy wall. "Um? ...Tia?" Tirax wanders out from inside the asteroid, looking perhaps a little melancholy as he starts heading towards the two ships, lost in his own thoughts. Kit chuckles...a sly sound that makes no effort to hide its contrived air. "Too bad, there is a witness now. Ordinarily I would not balk at putting on a show, but when it is for free..." She 'tsks' in mock disappointment. Tiana 'oofs' as she runs into Aadzrian, the inside of her cheek bitten hard as she jostles herself, ".. Sorry." She mumbles, stepping back and looking up to Aadzrian, drowsy glaze perceivable in her eyes, "Though' ya were farther away than ya were. Uhm..." She hesistates, blinking at Kit, "Huh?" Aadzrian looks down at Kit rather solemnly a moment, making no attempt to disguise the interest lingering on his face. It's not prurient, his eyes focusing on hers rather than on points of interest lower, but it is definitely intent. "Per-haps we can resumed t'at line of conversation later," he says, voice as light as that gaze is heavy, "when you feel like saying wat actual on your mind, hmm?" Only then does he look away, green-on-green eyes flicking to Tiana with a much more casual appraisal. "You okay?" Tirax continues wandering over to the three, taking in a deep breath as if to steady himself before putting a small smile on his face. "Hey," he says lowly as he approaches. "Later might be never, the only time that's right is now!" Kit sing-songs, with a grin to rival the Jackal's herself. "Hey, kiddo," she calls as soon as Aadzrian's attention has turned away, reaching up and rapping the backs of her knuckles against Beta's shoulder - eliciting a hollow-sounding *thunk*. "You done yet with those tests? I'm growin' older here..." To which the Ariel unit idly inclines its head to pin one red optical sensor upon its mistress and does nothing more, evidently not yet finished. "Wakin' up, 'urtin'. Ain't sure what t'take though." Tia replies, mild frown besetting her brow, "Tha' doctor, don't know what 'e gave me but s'makin' me sleep real good." "You wanna sleep t'at good? If no you can go back to te codeine," Aadzrian murmurs Tiana's way. "I choosed codeine on pur-pose because it pain relief wit'out totally knock you te hel out. But, um, we pro-babble have no store of wat-ever he gived you, eit'er way." Tirax gets a wave , without a particular smile, before his attention inexorably drifts back to Kit. "You seem to be in t'at kind of mood," he agrees, brow quirking. "To do somet'ing reck-less. Al te sudden. Quite a change..." Tirax waves back to Aadz, his posture showing he's probably still as melancholy as he was when he first urned up, the smile looking perhaps a little fake now. He falls silent, just watching the three, close enough for now. Kit gives Aadzrian a winning smile. "Ah, gold star to the fellow with more brawns than sense, but he worked real hard for that, so don't hold it against him, folks." The words may be biting in intent, but they are cast off as negligently as wheat chaff, rather than as stones; so absent-mindedly casual that they almost hold a strange affection in their teasing. "But that one..." she tilts her head consideringly in Tirax's direction, "such a long face for the party I heard he had yesterday. At least the woman is properly tranqued." "Don' wanna sleep s'much." Tia replies with a light shake of her head, a mild frown again directed towards Kit, however briefly, "Papa said 'e 'ad t'feed Fortuna an' stuff. Though ah remember vaguely mailin' Rill at some point an' 'im replyin'." "I know I'm stupid," Aadzrian says very quietly Kit's way, not seeming terribly offended by the point she offhandedly makes, "but I am smart enough to know you are no at al acting like you were half an hour ago. Are you okay? Did somet'ing I say bot'ering you t'at mush? Actual... hold t'at t'ought." After a moment, he nods to Tiana. "I wil go fetsh te codeine, t'en." And just like that, he's turned and heading towards the Fox at an easy, controlled lope. "You're not stupid," Tirax says quietly. "And I had a party?" he asks Kit curiously. "Meh, just spent the night in there," he says, pointing deeper into the asteroid. "It's very depressing." "Oh, it was business as usual, then?" Kit asks with a vaguely impressed air, grin widening, before Aadzrian's words has her cackling outright; nudging Beta's tail aside, she stands and plunks a hand down atop the paint-streaked skull. "And I am smart enough to know when not to put out and leave the men wanting more. Hey you, I know you're done by now, since Alpha helpfully coallated the last set of reports and sent them along," the tablet is waved in the Ariel unit's field of vision, "so let's go find something to play other than Statues." Beta neither refutes or finds offense at its mistresses' suddenly brusque manner. Instead, it butts its head affectionately against her hip before rising to all four legs with a stretch. Tiana nods to Aadzrian and watches him lope off a moment. Thereafter a silent glance is passed between Kit and Tirax, but she has no interest in their line of conversation. No, she's too busy looking at the felinoid tasker, admiring the fine work. "I hope t'at is a meta-phor, be-cause you are a lot more likely to tease my curios-sity t'an my dick, not'ing personal," Aadzrian calls over his shoulder back at Kit- not angrily, but with an almost playful sort of lightness. "I'm trying out chastity, but I am al-ways nosy. Be righ back, Tia." Tirax's reassurance goes unmarked, the older Timonae disappearing through the Fox's hatch for a moment. Tirax rubs at his eyes a moment before he sighs, turning towards the Fox. "M'gonna go to bed," he mumbles, heading that way. Aadzrian boards the IND Laughing Fox. Tirax boards the IND Laughing Fox. "Oh, none taken. I would be rather concerned with your apparent fetish for dowdiness, if that were the case," Kit returns brightly...though there is an accompanying grimace of distaste as she glances down at her attire, as if she had not been the one to pick it out by choice. "Besides, it seems he already has someone to fuss over, no?" she muses with a sidelong look and teasing smirk towards Tiana before she is settling a hand companionably atop Beta's head once more. "Ah, what were we quoting from the other day...dear Alice, was it not? How about another old, old Earth classic...Wizard of Oz. You can be Toto...can you bark, Beta? I'm sure we can find the appropriate sound file for you - come on, give me a bark!" she cheerfully maintains the monologue as the two head up the Raider's ramp. Category: Classic OtherSpace Logs Category: Jackal logs Category: Fox and Hound Logs